ICI Australia Ltd.
The personnel director of ICI Australia at the time, and one of his colleagues,
indicated that the company had a number of well educated technical people whom
they felt would benefit from an intensive management course. They said that it
was not practical to send 15 of their top people for a year or more to the
traditional business schools. It would be too costly and take too much time away
from the job. They asked if it was possible for IMCA to bring an action learning
business school approach to the company. The practical nature of the course,
whereby participants could study subjects based on the job they did and other
projects, appealed to the directors. They liked the way participants could study
marketing and apply the principles at the same time. Equally, they saw the
advantages of studying finance and operations management in real time, and
applying the theories of human resources to their projects. It was not however,
just simply a matter of inviting people and starting the action learning MBA
course. First, the board of directors had to be convinced that it was a sound
approach and worth the investment. In a pre-meeting they did this by identifying
specific projects that were of strategic significance to the company, and then
nominating people whom they felt should be invited to participate. The board
also agreed to have certain directors and senior staff members contribute to the
course to give the strategic view, and run sessions on the financial and
operating systems of the company. While certain staff members were invited to
participate not all could do so, and eventually fifteen members took part. At
the beginning, some were sceptical. The chief toxicologist, who had a PhD in her
area of specialism, wondered what an MBA would really add to her kind of work.
In the initial action learning set meetings, this issue was addressed by the
other members who indicated that they could learn a lot from her and that she
may learn something from them. There was a wide range of participants with
people from the support areas such as finance and research, and also those from
the manufacturing and sales sides.
The course was co-ordinated by IMCA from Brisbane. The set meetings however took
place in Melbourne, about 1000 miles away. The meetings were structured so that
the set could meet once every two weeks for a day, to gain inputs and to discuss
the action learning applications. The course was based upon ‘expectations
documents’, which encouraged the participants, their clients, and their
managers to write down and commit to what they would do to make it a success.
These documents served well to focus the efforts of everyone and remind them of
what had been agreed. Fifteen people in a set is a good number to get diversity
of views, and an exchange of ideas, but it is too large a number to work
collectively on projects and gain personal support. Therefore, members were
encouraged to establish pairs and trios so that they could work more closely on
particular areas.
The use of the team management profiles helped clarify ideas for such teamwork
and the way people together. The ICI action learning set established a strong
camaraderie and was effective in assisting and helping one another. The initial
scepticism disappeared when they realized they were working on key projects
supported by the board, and that they had control over the ways and means of
working and learning. The thesis projects dealt with major issues such as the
launch of new products, introducing new ways of working, extending support
services for clients, improving safety, marketing and selling into new
territories and other key activities of the business, all the participants were
aged between 28 and 40 years of age. They brought a high level of energy and new
ideas and assisted each other in the spirit of action learning. Questions were
asked that challenged conventional wisdom. Connecting rods of information and
enquiry, that did not exist before, criss-crossed the organization. The board
who set the challenges became challenged themselves by the feedback and action
taken.
The ICI Australia action learning MBA set established a quicker pace for change
than had existed previously. In so doing, each member agreed that they had
widened their understanding and experience of business in ways they had not
anticipated. The experience not only enabled them to gain an action learning
Master’s of Business degree, but helped them widen their careers and develop
as more rounded business people. The experience also proved, once again, that
the agenda of the business, linked to a rigorous curriculum to help people
understand the language, techniques and philosophy of management via action
learning is the most powerful way of improving both business performance and
individual ability simultaneously.